MEN'S BASKETBALL: Oakland suffers one of worst conference home losses to South Dakota

ROCHESTER -- After surviving a collapse two days earlier, Oakland pressed its luck again Saturday, coming out on the losing end of a conference game against South Dakota at the O'rena, 97-78.

The defeat was Oakland's second-largest conference loss at the O'rena and snapped a 10-game home winning streak for Oakland.

"I'm stunned by that, I didn't see that coming," Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. "They threw a couple punches at us and we went down and never really got back up. I'm very, very surprised by the outcome and the way the game went. I want to give South Dakota a ton of credit.

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"We were totally outclassed, outcoached and outeverythinged."

The Golden Grizzlies came within nine points before Kampe was assessed a technical foul after arguing a traveling call against Oakland with 3:16 to play. The Coyotes then closed the game on a 16-6 run.

"It was a call I disagreed with and there had been a few of those," Kampe said. "That's a referee that I have a long history with and I'm shocked he called a technical foul because I didn't say anything to him that warranted or deserved that.

"Did that cost us the game? Sure."

Travis Bader, the nation's leading 3-point shooter, made his first five 3-point shots Saturday before missing his final 10 attempts. He led Oakland with 19 points, but scored just four points in the second half.

"They definitely guarded me more heavily and knew where I was at all times," he said. "I just did a horrible job of letting them get into my head and I was missing shots."

Drew Valentine followed with 18 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, while Duke Mondy added 17 points and Corey Petros contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.

Similar to Thursday's game against Kansas City in which Oakland squandered a 13-point lead late in the first half, the Golden Grizzlies wasted a 14-point advantage Saturday. The Coyotes outscored the Grizzlies, 32-10, over the final 9:40 of the half to take an eight-point halftime lead, 48-40.

"We have to figure this out because it's been the story of our team all year," Valentine said. "If we're going to achieve our mission, we have to turn it around."

Kampe called for an official review with 8:15 remaining and Oakland trailing by 19 points after Valentine appeared to be hit in the head by a South Dakota player. The challenge, which he said would have awarded Oakland two free throws if it was found that Valentine had been elbowed in the head, a flagrant foul, was unsuccessful and cost Oakland a 30-second timeout. Kampe explained the strategy after the game.

"I thought two points was worth a timeout," he said. "That timeout is worthless if we're down 14 points.

"I'm just a coach out there fighting for my team."

The Coyotes shot 58 percent (34 of 59) and 19 of 20 from the free-throw line in the victory. Oakland shot 46 percent (30 of 66) from the field and just 7 of 12 from the free-throw line.

Casey Kasperbauer led six Coyotes in double figures with 23 points followed by Juevol Myles with 17 points, Brandon Bos with 13 points, Trevor Gruis and Jordan Boots with 11 each, and Karim Rowson added 10 points for South Dakota.

The Coyotes (8-12, 4-4 Summit) held a 34-30 rebounding advantage on Oakland (8-13, 3-4), which has won consecutive games just once this season. Both teams committed 18 turnovers.

Oakland continues its four-game homestand hosting IUPUI Thursday at 7 p.m. and Western Illinois visits Saturday. That game tips off at 5 p.m. and can be seen on Fox Sports Detroit.